Need help please!!!! Laticrete Multi- mastic

[RLMCJUNK]

Hey all,
A friend of mine wanted me to come down and help lay some tile. He got some Laticrete premium multi-mastic adhesive for his tile job. I never looked at the stuff because I used it several times in the past myself. We put down 12x12 in the bath room and kitchen/dining room. It has been 3 days and the stuff is still not dry enough to walk on. SOOOO I did what I should have done first and read the bucket and it says the max floor tile size is 6x6. So, the question for you guys that know alot more about this than me is what can bee done now??? I would like to try everything possible before tearing all the tile up and starting over. Could you give some ideas please? thanks

[ddmoit]

Hi Randy,

You can probably pick up all those tiles and wash off the mastic with warm soapy water and a nylon scrub brush.

Is this a slab or wooden subfloor? If wood, does your friend have subfloor layers and a substrate suitable for tile? Has he checked the Deflecto to make certain the joists are stiff enough to support ceramic tile?

[cx]

Welcome back, Randy.

Do your friend a real favor and remove all the tile while you still can, soak it in water to hopefully remove all the mastic, then set the tiles with a Portland cement-based mortar. You could be a good bit older before that stuff dries adequately under those tiles.

Also, you don't indicate what sort of substrate or subfloor you've installed the tiles over, nor if y'all checked the joist structure to ensure it was suitable for a tile installation. Could be some other problems hiding in here.

My opinion; worth price charged.

Looks like ol' Fast Fingers Dan hasn't anything better to do this morning, eh?

[RLMCJUNK]

Thanks for the answers, he has a concrete slab under his whole house and the vinyl is on the slab. So you guys are saying the only answer is to pull it up and start over???? I that because of the vinyl or the mastic.

[cx]

Both, actually.

My opinion; worth price charged.

[RLMCJUNK]

So you think it will never dry?

[ddmoit]

Even on an acceptable substrate, that mastic would take a very long time to dry under 12" tiles. If I understand you correctly, they were set directly to vinyl. That's a no-no even with a proper portland-cement-based adhesive. Mastic may never dry between ceramic and vinyl. It's almost the same as keeping it in the bucket.

If your friend still wants tile on those floors, the vinyl will have to be removed. The surface of the cement slab has to be very flat, and relatively free of any prior adhesive material. Any cracks would have to be dealt with appropriately with an isolation membrane. Cracks with vertical displacement would likely be a deal-breaker for tile.

If you decide to pick those tiles up and set them back down properly, make sure you have a plan for putting any cut tiles back were they were - unless you have enough extras to make new cuts.

Originally Posted by cx

Looks like ol' Fast Fingers Dan hasn't anything better to do this morning, eh?

Nothing better to do, but plenty of stuff I should be doing - like installing a new kitchen sink faucet.

[RLMCJUNK]

Thanks for the info. I will pass on to my friend and see what he wants to do.

[tilelayer]

Well you can tile over vinyl if it has an extremely good bond(which is rare) then you would need if your using Laticrete their platnium thinset or TEC superflex or Mapei Ultraflex 3 something thats highly modified. Can i have the pink bucket from the mastic? i love those pink buckets.